I rested and recovered after the marathon in early November. Thanksgiving was wonderful and I used the time off to try and get some training on trails. I'd signed up for a 50k mid-december. It was never a goal race but I'd hoped to finish the race and enjoy the wonderful trails. However, a touch of ankle tendonitis and trail shoe issues meant that I was going into the 50k race woefully undertrained on trails and unsure the ankle would hold up to the rigors of trail running.
The ankle had felt fine on roads so the issue on trails was a bit of a surprise. I'd run longer on trails in shoes that hadn't worked and probably contributed to the ankle pain. I started some self care for the ankle and also added in some more days off than I planned. After frantically trying out different shoes, I had finally found a pair of trail shoes that would do well enough and prepared just go out there and have some fun.
We went up to Whidbey for the Deception Pass 25k and 50k. These races are on separate days and we knew people running both days. A friend has a house on whidbey so we had easy and very relaxing accommodations. I'd had a very stressful week at work so really was looking forward to the weekend away. I'd been tapering again for the race and was dismayed to find the ankle really bothered after a couple easy midweek runs. I'd had a massage the monday before the race and I think possibly she went a bit deep on the tender areas. And then saturday i woke with teh beginnings of a cold. That decided it. I had thought I'd have a chance of finishing before the cut off for the 50k IF the ankle held up. Now with a developing cold, I knew I'd just have to plan for a nice and much shorter easy trail run. Maybe I could make it 10 miles but I would be happy with 7 or so which would give me the best views of the course.
It's a great course for spectating and the weather was wonderful for the 25k. Runners did get rained on but they were brief showers and overall it was very comfortable temps for running. Coach Lesley was racing strong (despite her usual claim that she was just running for fun) and it was really fun getting to different areas to cheer.
After the race, we headed back to the farm and got a grand tour of the property. I took a lovely nap and spent some quality time knitting and reading. Ah the joys of the occasional unplugging. There was no wifi! The R2D2 hat is ready!
I prepared all my stuff to get ready to run the next morning. And barely slept because i had such a sore throat and felt so achy. Ok. No way. No running for this sickie. That is a DNS (did not start) and no doubt in my mind that was the right decision. I felt awful later in the day and was working towards spiking a high fever. We still went out and cheered for the friend running in teh 50k. Turns out he was way undertrained as well and had a planned drop at mile 14.
Nope, it's not quite the weekend i wanted running-wise but it was a really fun weekend overall with beautiful scenery. Meanwhile I guess the ankle is better. it's had a lot of rest!
